Free Web NovelChapter 117: Thoughts on Going Premium (Daily 10k Word Plan & Summary)
1. Some Thoughts
First off, my apologies. I previously announced in the novel that it would go premium around the 20th of the month, but as it turns out, it’s happening tomorrow.
Thanks to the support of all you esteemed readers, this book’s performance meant it could have gone premium much earlier. I personally felt the beginning wasn’t written very well and wanted to release more free Chapters as compensation. However, updating with only two Chapters a day was really hurting the number of active readers following the story. My friends also advised me to do it, so I’ve decided to go premium ahead of schedule.
Next, a huge, huge, huge thank you to all you esteemed readers who have been following along. I’ve been incredibly moved by the constant support from many of you, from recommendation tickets and monthly passes to your reviews.
I remember many of your usernames.
2. Update Schedule
To show my gratitude, and to fulfill a promise I made back when we were on the new book rankings, my update plan after going premium is: I’ll be releasing 10,000 words a day for 13 days straight (sunglasses face). I bet many of you thought when I said "13 bonus Chapters" that I meant only 13 Chapters in total, right?
Plot twist!
I’ve been sleeping only 6 hours a night for the past half-month just to pull this off.
As for how many more days I can keep up the 10,000-word daily updates after that, it will depend on the initial subscription numbers. For every 50 initial subscriptions over 100, I’ll add another day of 10,000-word updates. (You guys probably can’t overwhelm me, right?)
I’m not expecting monthly passes or tips. Your subscriptions are the greatest support you can give me!
3. Story Direction
Although my writing in this book has been a bit shaky, I’ve prepared a very long-term outline. Based on how Volume One has unfolded, writing up to 1.5 million words will be no problem at all.
Regarding the map, I was honestly surprised that you all couldn’t find the real-world inspiration. It’s actually the Netherlands (in its early historical form).
So, the main plotline should be easy to guess—the Thirty Years’ War. This is also why I added "Religious Reformation" to the tags. Less than 30% of the settings I’ve planned in the outline have been revealed so far. (Of course, this is mainly due to my limited writing skill, which I’ll discuss later.)
As for when the war will break out, I first need to lay out the international situation: what nations surround the Empire and the Duchy, what the political climate is like, and so on. All that exposition will probably take us past the million-word mark.
Besides, to repel foreign invaders, one must first...
In any case, please rest assured, my esteemed readers. The plot will revolve around all sorts of novel biological modifications and evolutions. Whenever I have free time, I’m cramming by reading "Fangistaf" and "Dragon Girl’s Voice." The plot might not be the most intricate, but I promise it won’t be repetitive or formulaic.
(The following is the author’s self-review. Feel free to skip it if you’re not interested.)
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4. A 240,000-Word Self-Review and Summary
As many of you have probably figured out, this is the first book I’ve ever written, so I made a lot of mistakes in the early stages.
1. First and foremost, when crises hit, I suppressed the protagonist too much. Allies, subordinates, and subjects all resisted him and looked down on him, both openly and secretly. This was a bad move. It taught me a valuable lesson, summed up in the phrase "suppress the situation, not the person." Indeed, when disaster strikes, a normal person’s negative emotions should be directed at the difficulty itself, not at their leader.
2. The plot is cliché of the cliché. For this, all I can say is thank you so much to the esteemed readers who have stuck with it. It’s not that I intentionally wrote it this way. I just happened to read a "lord" type novel from the new book rankings that started with the protagonist awakening an ability. It seemed pretty cool, so I tried to blend in a "reverse annulled engagement" trope. But I completely botched it, and it just ended up looking super generic. After writing for half a month, I looked back at the book I’d used for reference and... it had flopped... (By the way, feel free to leave a comment here and tell me which parts you think most need changing.)
3. Unclear settings or insufficient explanation. The first example is the whole "a Baron’s annual income is fifty Golden Suns" thing. Actually, that fifty was the annual *surplus*. A typical Baron’s annual revenue is around one thousand Golden Suns, but their expenses are quite high. About 50% of their income is spent on servants, daily living, and social engagements, and another 30% must be used to purchase Extraordinary materials related to bloodline enhancement for themselves and their heirs.
The power system, class settings, and nobility system haven’t been properly showcased through the characters. I will summarize these settings later and post them in a dedicated lore collection.
4. Unclear main plotline. The protagonist rarely reflects on his immediate and long-term goals, making his motivations unclear. This results in him seeming to wander around aimlessly, not at all like a proper lord. I will fix this going forward, ensuring that every subplot revolves around the main story.
5. Lack of the protagonist’s inner thoughts in the early parts. I did this based on advice from some online readers, but looking back, I see that the protagonist’s inner monologue is the most important way to explain the logic behind his actions. Not only should it be included, but it needs to be written compellingly.
6. Too much foreshadowing and too many characters. This is just me being a total newbie. It’s also related to plot design. The protagonist doesn’t focus on one thing for any length of time, which leads to a prop or a character only showing up once every ten or twenty Chapters. For example, the [Blood-sucking Vine]. It’s supposed to be a major ace up his sleeve, but I never found the time to properly upgrade it. I will avoid this in the future.
That concludes my summary. I’m writing this all out to reinforce the lessons and to constantly remind myself of them in the future.
Finally, once again, my deepest thanks to the esteemed readers who have supported this book from the beginning!
For a first-time author, getting onto the overall new book rankings and placing second in the fantasy category is an amazing achievement, and I’m incredibly satisfied.
Regardless of how this book performs from here on out, I will give it a complete ending.
I will let the first protagonist I’ve ever written have his grand adventure.
See you tomorrow!
